Retailers, wholesalers, and other product handlers (which may collectively be referred to as handlers) typically maintain an inventory of various items that may be ordered by clients or customers. Similarly, item providers, such as manufacturers may maintain an inventory of parts and/or materials for use in manufacturing processes. This inventory may be maintained and processed at a materials handling facility which may include, but is not limited to, one or more of: standalone warehouses, warehouses attached to retail locations, distribution centers, cross-docking facilities, order fulfillment facilities, packaging facilities, shipping facilities or other facilities or combinations of facilities for performing one or more functions of material (inventory) handling. In some cases, inventory is received from and/or maintained on behalf of a third party.
It can be difficult for such distributors and manufacturers to detect whether any of the items they receive and/or handle on behalf of others are unauthorized items (e.g., counterfeit, stolen or gray market items), even when the items are in their possession. For example, a single distributor or manufacturer may receive a large number of vastly different types of items, and may not be familiar enough with some of them to be able to detect unauthorized items based on their appearance. Furthermore, unauthorized items may be or appear (e.g., even to a trained eye) to be identical to the corresponding authentic items.
Reactive approaches to reducing the risk of using unauthorized items in manufacturing or distributing unauthorized items to retailers or consumers may not be adequate. For example, unauthorized health products and/or consumable items (such as counterfeit cosmetics or food items) could contain ingredients other than those found in the authorized items. In another example, unauthorized manufacturing parts may not meet design specifications, which may cause the final manufactured products to fail or to be unsafe.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.